There are many casino table card games disclosed in the patent literature that involve players being provided with multiple cards and the opportunity to distribute those cards into multiple hands (e.g., two, three, four or more hands). Some of these games are widely played in the gaming industry. Examples of these games include public domain pai gow poker, and a proprietary game called FORTUNE PAI GOW POKER®, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,041.
These games involve play against a dealer hand, and the dealer hand is set according to predetermined casino rules, referred to in the art as the “house way.” The term “house way” can include a variety of rules, such as when the dealer must take a hit card in the play of blackjack, the way the dealer must arrange a hand in the game of pai gow poker, and when a card must be discarded, etc. It is well known in the casino gaming industry that many games have house way rules that must be memorized by the dealer and followed to assure that the house maintains an edge in the game. In pai gow poker, the player must also follow one important house way rule. That is the rank of the low hand cannot exceed the rank of the high hand. Often, the dealer must assist the player in setting the hand the house way. It has proven very difficult to teach dealers house way rules and consequently hands (both dealer and player) are not correctly set, and the time it takes to set the hands is too long. The house way rules are generally determined by the casino. For example, in the game of blackjack, some casinos require the dealer to hit on a soft 17, while others require the dealer to stand on the same dealer hand.
Pai gow poker and its variants are not as profitable to casinos as compared with other games because the players must make complex decisions on how to set hands. They may request the dealer help in setting the hands. Anyone watching the play of pai gow poker will observe players setting and resetting their two required hands, and then rechecking the hands after they have been laid on the table. This type of strategic decision-making activity is one of the reasons that pai gow poker remains popular. Unfortunately, these decisions slow down the play of the game. This is particularly of concern to casinos as pai gow poker has one of the lower profit margins in casinos, as compared to many other games. Because of the slow play, combined with the low profit margin, the game of pai gow poker is not favored by casinos, even though it is very popular with customers.
Other games exist in the art that require hand setting. For example, a three-hand pai gow variant is described in Webb U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,646. In this game, players are required to set three hands to be played against a dealer's three hands (high, mid and low). U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,042 to Lo describes a poker game in which there is a primary wager and independent secondary wagers and player's set hands.
Schugar U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0258388 describes a wagering game that requires the dealer to discard cards according to a preset “house way.”
Webb U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0205559 describes a wagering game in which the dealer sets and plays his hand according to predetermined house rules. The dealer then forms a dealer hand according to predetermined house way rules. The house way rules preferably require the dealer hand to stand under certain conditions.
In Saucier U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0226604, players place one or more wagers and opt whether to use a tiebreaker resolution. The banker may be required to set his or her hand according to a “house way” or “house rules.”
Kane U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0025213 describes a system and method for playing a game of chance. In one example, a lottery game has a video poker secondary event. The poker game allows a player to arrange a plurality of virtual cards dealt to the player into a first hand and a second hand. Optionally, the player may select control 607 (e.g., a “HOUSE WAY” button) to arrange the cards into the first hand and the second hand according to the predefined set of rules.
All references cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety, especially with respect to descriptions of apparatus and systems, game rules and methods.